Separable self-securing holding device

ABSTRACT

A separable self-securing article holding device embodying an improvement which comprises a flexible wall supported layer and a rigid article holding layer, said layers being connected by welds having very substantial shear strength and having tear strength such that said welds may be readily broken by a direct sharp pull in the direction of the axes of said welds to permit direct access to said flexible layer to peel the same away from a supporting wall without damage to the surface thereof.

1 51 May 27, 1975 United States Patent 1191 Frye AAA .555 000 7.22 D0088 444 222 SEPARABLE SELF-SECURING HOLDING 2,432,987 12/1947 Garner DEVICE 2,765,998 10/1956 Engert 3,241,795 3/1966 Fr 6.1.-.. or: Bruce J. Frye, 13601 69th ve. 3,409,257 11/1966 R.R. No. 2, Osseo, Minn. 55369 Aug. 8, 1973 Appl. No.: 386,751

Primary Examiner-George F. Lesmes Assistant Examiner-J. Cannon [22] Filed:

Attorney, Agent, or FirmLeo Gregory 52 US. c1..... 248/467; 24/230.5 PH; 24/D1G. 11; ABSTRACT 40/125 A; 108/152; 156/247; 156/249; A separable self-securing article holding device em- 156/290; 161/148; 161/167; 161/231; bodying an improvement which comprises a flexible 161/406; 161/406 T; 161/113; 161/114 wall supported layer and a rigid article holding layer, [51] Int. A471 7/14; A47g 1/17 said layers being connected by welds having very su [58] Field of Search 40/125 A; 24/230.5 PH, stantial shear strength and having tear strength such 24/DIG. 11; 161/148, 406, 406 T, 167; that said welds may be readily broken by a direct 248/205, 304, 467 sharp pull in the direction of the axes of said welds to permit direct access to said flexible layer to peel the same away from a supporting wall without damage to the surface thereof.

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,030,135 2/1936 Carpenter....................... 248/205 A 2 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures SHEET PATENTED MY 2 71975 H7 //fi// /A SEPARABLE SELF-SECURING HOLDING DEVICE BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention herein relates to a separable selfsecuring article holding device adapted to be secured to a wall surface and which combines with substantial holding capacity ease of removal from a suporting wall without damage to the surface thereof.

It is desirable to have an article holding device which may be secured to a wall surface which is covered as with wall paper or other damageable coating material and from which said device may readily be removed without damage to such coating material.

There is likelihood that when a rigid device is removably secured to a damageable wall surface as by an adhesive that upon its removal it will tear or rupture its underlying or supporting surface. It has been found, however, that if a holding device is secured to a surface such as above indicated, that if such a device is sufficiently flexible it may be removed by being peeled off such a surface as by being gently rolled up for removal, that the underlying or supporting surface will avoid being damaged.

It is an object of this invention, therefore, to provide a self-securing article holding device having substantial holding capacity and having such structure that it may be removed from a supporting wall surface without damage to such surface.

It is another object of this invention to provide a selfsecuring article holding device having substantial shear strength and having limited tear strength.

It is still another object of this invention in view of the object above set forth to provide a holding device having a rigid load or article supporting layer and a relatively flexible layer secured to a supporting wall surface.

It is another object of this invention in view of the object above set forth to have an outer rigid article supporting layer readily removable from an underlying relatively flexible wall supported layer.

More specifically, it is an object of this invention to provide a separable self-securing article holding device comprising a flexible layer and a rigid layer, said layers being secured together by spaced welds, said flexible layer being self-securing to a supporting wall surface and said rigid layer being arranged to support an article, said welds having substantial shear strength and limited tear strength whereby said rigid layer is readily removed from said flexible layer by a sharp pull in the direction of the axes of said welds and said flexible layer may be peeled gently away from said supporting surface.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views and in which:

FIG. 1 is a broken view showing the device in front elevation in operating position;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view in vertical section taken on line 22 of FIG. 1 as indicated;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view having layered portions thereof broken away;

FIG. 7 is a broken view in perspective showing the I modified device in operating position.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIGS. l-4, a preferred embodiment is shown of the separable self-securing article holding device herein which is indicated generally by the reference numeral 10.

Said device comprises a body portion 12 having one relatively rigid article holding outer layer 13 preferably made of polyvinyl chloride which has been found to be a very appropriate material. Said layer is referred to as the forward layer. A rearward wall supported layer 16 overlies the same and is formed of flexible polyvinyl chloride and has a depending portion 16a extending somewhat below the lower edge of said layer 13;

Said layers 13 and 16 have non-adherent adjacent or facing surfaces l4 and l7. Said surfaces may be treated as by being embossed to be non-adherent but in the present embodiment a plurality of thin sheets 19 of non-adherent material such as of Mylar are shown disposed between said layers.

Said layers 13 and 16 are secured together by welds 23 which extend through corresponding openings 19a in said sheets 19. Said welds are spaced inwardly of the periferies or edge portions of said layers. The specific number of welds is a matter of design. Said layers 13 and 16 are directly bonded or fused by said welds and said sheets 19 are free from attachment either to said layers or to one another.

Overlying the outer surface 15 of the layer 16 is an appropriate adhesive 24 by means of which said layer becomes self-securing or self-holding as to a supporting surface. Overlying said adhesive layer is a protective removable cover strip 27 such as is in common use.

Carried by said layer 13 is a hook member 25 having its shank portion 25a embedded within said layer 13 as shown and having an appropriate outer projecting portion 25b by means of which articles may be supported.

As will be further described, said welds do not have great tear strength or in otherwords do not have great resistance to being ruptured or torn apart by a sharp pull in the direction of the axes of the welds. However, said welds do have considerable shear strength. An article suspended from or carried by said hook 25 will exert a pull which will be distributed throughout the entire layer 13 and the pull on said layer is in a direction substantially parallel to the plane of said layer and in a direction substantially normal to the axes of said welds. In FIG. 1, the device is shown in operating position mounted onto or secured to a supporting surface 28.

Two significant benefits result from the particular layer arrangement of the device herein. One benefit is that a relatively small holding device is capable of supporting an article of substantial weight. The rigid layer 13 directly bears the weight of the article spreading its load over all of the weld points. Said weld points in being spaced inwardly and away from the edge portions of the layers 13 and I6, distribute said load onto the layer 16 without exerting any significant pull at the outer rigid layer 13 can be readily separated from the rearward flexible layer 16 by a direct sharp pull outwardly in the direction of the axes of said welds to break said welds. The rearward or flexible layer will remain and it may be peeled away very gently from the supporting surface and this may be accomplished with very little tear force. Thus, the device herein may be secured as to a papered surface and may be removed therefrom without damage to such surface.

MODIFICATION Referring to FIGS. -7, a modification 29 is shown of the device herein.

Said modified form comprises a flexible layer 30 and a relatively rigid layer 32 which overlie one another having their adjacent surface portions non-adherent by having interposed therebetween a plurality of layers 34 of thin sheet material such as Mylar which will represent non-adherent layers. Said layers 30 and 32 will be secured to one another by said welds 38 which will extend through corresponding openings in the intervening or interposed layers 34. Said welds will be spaced apart and will be spaced inwardly of the edge portions of said layers 30 and 32.

Applied to each of the outer remote surface portions 31 and 33 of said layers is a suitable adhesive 37 and overlying the same are removable protective cover strips 39 and 40.

With the cover strip 40 removed from the surface portion 33, an article 43 shown here as a small shelf is secured to said surface. The cover strip 39 is removed from the surface portion 31 and said exposed surface is then applied to a supporting wall 28 under suitable pressure.

As above described, any object placed upon said shelf 43 will exert predominantly a shear force. For removal of the device from the supporting surface, an outward pull of said shelf will break the welds 38 leaving the relatively flexible layer 30 secured to the supporting wall. As above described, said layer 30 is removed by being peeled gently away from said surface with no resulting damage to said surface.

The device in the forms here described have performed very successfully in actual use in the manner as indicated.

It will of course be understood that various changes may be made in form, details, arrangement and proportions of the parts without departing from the scope of the invention herein which, generally stated, consists in an apparatus capable of carrying out the objects above set forth, in the parts and combinations of parts disclosed and defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A separable self-securing article holding device, having in combination a body portion comprising a pair of layers,

one of said layers being rigid,

and other of said layers being flexible,

said layers being separably conected by a plurality of spaced-apart welds spaced inwardly of the peripheries of said layers,

said welds being arranged and constructed to withstand considerable shear force and to separate under relatively small tear force,

said flexible layer having an adhesive outer surface layer, and

article holding means carried by said rigid layer, said rigid layer distributing the load carried by it over said welds without exerting any significant pull at the edge portions of said flexible layer.

2. A separable self-securing article holding device, having in combination a body portion comprising a pair of layers,

means rendering selected areas of the adjacent surfaces of said layers non-adherent,

one of said layers being rigid,

the other of said layers being flexible,

means forming spaced-apart welds connecting said layers inwardly of the peripheries thereof,

said welds being arranged and constructed to have considerable shear strength and to have very little tear strength,

said flexible layer having an adhesive outer surface layer, and

article holding means carried by said rigid layer, said rigid layer distributing its load throughout the welds connecting it and said flexible layer and thus avoiding the effect of peel back at the periphery of said flexible layer. 

1. A separable self-securing article holding device, having in combination a body portion comprising a pair of layers, one of said layers being rigid, and other of said layers being flexible, said layers being separably conected by a plurality of spacedapart welds spaced inwardly of the peripheries of said layers, said welds being arranged and constructed to withstand considerable shear force and to separate under relatively small tear force, said flexible layer having an adhesive outer surface layer, and article holding means carried by said rigid layer, said rigid layer distributing the load carried by it over said welds without exerting any significant pull at the edge portions of said flexible layer.
 2. A separable self-securing article holding device, having in combination a body portion comprising a pair of layers, means rendering selected areas of the adjacent surfaces of said layers non-adherent, one of said layers being rigid, the other of said layers being flexible, means forming spaced-apart welds connecting said layers inwardly of the peripheries thereof, said welds being arranged and constructed to have considerable shear strength and to have very little Tear strength, said flexible layer having an adhesive outer surface layer, and article holding means carried by said rigid layer, said rigid layer distributing its load throughout the welds connecting it and said flexible layer and thus avoiding the effect of peel back at the periphery of said flexible layer. 